1. Field of the Invention
The invention is a kitchen hand tool specifically designed for crushing, pressing and extruding food items, in particular garlic cloves, to extract flowable pulp, essential juices and oils.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Food hand presses are used in the kitchen for pressing vegetables and fruit, in particular garlic. Known food presses typically include a pressing element fixed on a arm/handle pivotally-mounted on an edge of a tub located at the end of a stationary arm/handle having openings through its bottom. The garlic clove or other food item is placed in the tub, whereupon the operator grips the respective arms/handles of the press in one hand pivoting them together driving the pressing element into the tub crushing the garlic clove or food item against the tub bottom extruding it out through the bottom tub openings. The discouraging aspects of such typical hand food presses principally relate to: (i) the hand or grip strength required to fully crush and extrude the food item; (ii) the hand grip endurance required to maintain compression of resilient food items being crushed within the tub for extracting essential juices and oils; and (iii) hand grip fatigue when a large number of food items must be successively crushed.
The invented kitchen hand press for crushing and extruding pulp, juices and oils from food items includes (i) a stationary handle having a tub located at one end with sides, a distal end and a bottom with openings communicating through it, (ii) a pressing element forming a proximal end of the tub journaling and rotating about a shaft extending through the stationary handle; (iii) a large radius, ratchet-toothed, disc segment secured to and rotating with the pressing element; (iv) a pivoting handle pivotally secured to the stationary handle radially outward from the shaft having a ratchet, driving pin for engaging and the ratchet-toothed disc segment rotating it and the pressing element into the tub upon pivotal rotation of the pivoting handle inward toward the stationary handle and ratcheting over the ratchet-toothed disc segment upon pivotal rotation of the pivoting handle outward away from the stationary handle; and (v) a releasable ratchet, latching mechanism integral with the stationary handle for engaging and holding the ratchet-tooth disc segment stationary upon pivotal rotation of the pivoting handle away from the stationary handle, and releasing and ratcheting over the ratchet-tooth disc segment upon the disc segment being rotated by the pivoting handle pivoting toward the stationary handle.
The primary advantage of the invented kitchen hand food press relates to the mechanical advantage afforded by the combination of the relatively pivoting handles incrementally ratcheting, rotating a large radius disc segment and associated pressing element around the shaft into the tub substantially lessening hand grip strength required for efficient operation.
Another advantageous aspect of the invented kitchen hand food press relates to the inherent feature of a ratchet mechanism that engages and holds a rotational position. In particular, at any point of the crush, the ratchet mechanism holds the forward rotational position of the large radius ratchet-toothed disc segment relative to the stationary handle, enabling an operator to release his/her grip crushing the food item, without diminishing any compression of the food item confined within tub between the pressing element and the tub bottom.
Other features of the invented kitchen hand press for crushing and extruding pulp, juices and oils from food items relate to adjustable stops, which (a) determine the radians the ratchet toothed disc segment rotates per ratchet cycle, and opertatively establish a maximum crush position of the pressing element within the tube proximate the tub bottom. Releasing the releasable ratchet, latching mechanism integral with the stationary handle allows backward rotation of the disc segment and associated pressing element after the food item is completely, crushed and extruded to the maximum extent possible.
In order to better explain the characteristics of the invention, the following preferred embodiment of the invented kitchen hand press for crushing and extruding pulp, juices and oils from food items is illustrated and described as an example only, without being limitative in any way.